JLL’s Medwin Hashes Out South Florida’s Industrial Numbers

(Save the date: RealShare Industrial 2012 comes to The Bankers Club, Miami, December 5 - 6.)

MIAMI, FL-Only a handful of industrial assets in South Florida traded hands during the second quarter, as owners opted to retain their properties amid strengthening economic and market conditions. So says Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest industrial market report.

We caught up with Steve Medwin, managing director at JLL, to talk about what’s driving these trends. Medwin is serving as a panelist on RealShare Industrial's Transaction Panel: Outlook for Investment and Leasing.”

“There’s limited supply of top quality industrial product on the market,” Medwin tells GlobeSt.com. “You got some big institutional owners that own industrial portfolios and there are no plans to sell those today or even 18 months from now.”

Medwin reports landlords are hoping to see better lease rates in the next 12 months, which could drive up pricing on industrial assets. With industrial firms expanding the market evolving, many owners are holding tight for more value.

By comparison with Q3 2011, the South Florida markets have experienced falling industrial vacancies, increasing average rents, and the first signs of new speculative and built-to-suit construction either announced or in-progress, JLL reports. And with tenant touring activity still strong, there is reason to think these trend lines will persist.

Leasing activity is also picking up, especially in Miami-Dade, where the total vacancy rate is at 8.3%. The Palm Beach and Broward markets are experiencing vacancies of 9.5% and 10.5%, respectively.

“Miami is leading the recovery because of the international trade,” Medwin says. “When you take all the product classes together they're fairly similar. But when you look at Miami's class A industrial market it is pretty tight which is why there's a lot of development and expected development. There is less in Broward but none Palm Beach.”